| As you move around the excavation you will notice the Roman
flint walls. Structures like these are easy for us to spot and what's more
it's fairly easy to interpret them as buildings. Other structures on the
site were built solely from wood and other organic materials so the traces
they leave behind are more ephemeral and harder to spot. Here at Silchester
these include BEAM SLOTS, POST-PITS, and most frequently POST-HOLES; all
features which the Victorian archaeologists would have missed. Experimental
Archaeologists, at places like Butser Ancient Farm, have helped us to interpret
information we can gather from features such as post-holes.
A post-hole is a "discrete" feature, which on its own can be
hard to interpret. When post-holes form alignments we can infer outlines
of buildings, boundary fences and other structures. Wood framed extensions
were added to the large diagonal house here in Insula IX; we know this
because of the remains of internal floor surfaces and the post-holes,
which mark their extent. As the site progresses and we get further back
towards the Iron Age, we will see fewer stone built structures and an
increasing number of timber framed buildings indicated by hundreds of
post-holes.
Although they vary in size and complexity, the basic life span of a post-hole
is laid out below. By way of physical example, a post has been installed
in the same way at the excavation . . .
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2. The post is put into the hole and the space around
the post is filled with stone, flint, bricks or tile known as POST-PACKING.
Gaps may be deliberately filled with soil or smaller stones. Objects found
in this post-packing deposit may give us a construction date. Waterlogged,
preserved posts may also help with precise dating through study of tree
rings (known as DENDROCHRONOLOGY)
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3. Over time the underground section of the post will
decay. If the post is free standing it's likely to fall over. Alternatively,
if it's part of a structure, for example an Iron Age round house, the
decayed section may be cut away and a large flat stone placed over the
post-hole. This stone supports the post and is called a POST-PAD. The
post-hole has no more practical use. It can still be useful to archaeologists
though.
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